# The Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2026, Regulation 31: Gateway 3: prescribed requirements assessment by an appointed person


(1) A local planning authority must seek observations and advice of the nature specified in paragraph (2) in relation to their proposed local plan under section 15CA(3) of the Act—
(a) at the time that the local planning authority consider that the requirements prescribed by regulation 32 are met in relation to their proposed local plan, and
(b) in any event, no earlier than on the day after the date on which the local planning authority make their summary of consultation on the proposed local plan available under regulation 30(3).
(2) A local planning authority must seek observations and advice on whether each of the requirements prescribed by regulation 32 are met in relation to their proposed local plan.
(3) A local planning authority must send to the person appointed by the Secretary of State under section 15CA(3) of the Act (“the appointed person”) the gateway 3 submission documents, on the same day as the authority comply with paragraph (1).
(4) Observations or advice provided under section 15CA(3) of the Act in accordance with this regulation must—
(a) set out the conclusion of the appointed person as to whether each requirement prescribed by regulation 32 is met or (as the case may be) not met in relation to the proposed local plan,
(b) contain a reasoned justification for each conclusion, and
(c) be sent to the local planning authority by way of electronic communications and the textual content must be set out in typescript.
(5) When a local planning authority publish observations or advice received under section 15CA(3) of the Act and this regulation in accordance with section 15CA(5) of the Act, the authority must on the same day—
(a) make the observations or advice available in accordance with regulation 88,
(b) notify each person who requested to be notified of the publication of observations or advice under section 15CA(5) of the Act and such other persons as the authority consider appropriate that the observations or advice are published, and
(c) send a copy of the observations or advice to each person identified or referred to in the observations or advice.
(6) Where the appointed person has advised that each of the requirements prescribed by regulation 32 are met in relation to their proposed local plan, on the same day as the local planning authority comply with paragraph (5), the authority must make available in accordance with regulation 88—
(a) a gateway 3 completion statement, and
(b) the gateway 3 submission documents.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2026/186/regulation/31 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/town-and-country-planning-local-planning-england-regulations-2026/regulation-31
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.